


On The Creation Of Dinosaurs

by fluffy_teddybear



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Aziraphale created some dinosaurs, Aziraphale has Bad Memories™, Crowley to the rescue, Cuddles, Dinosaurs, Fluff, Museums, Other, and Crowley doesn’t know, dinosaurs aren’t just a joke in this fic, mentioned Madame Tracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 07:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20354989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffy_teddybear/pseuds/fluffy_teddybear
Summary: When dinosaurs were Her first failure, and angels were forced to turn a blind eye, a demon seeks out his angel for answers.





	On The Creation Of Dinosaurs

The internet was a rather peculiar thing. A place where anyone could say and do whatever they liked, anonymously at that. It brought voices to the unheard, and oftentimes, the unwanted. People started sharing ideas that only became more abstract and extreme as time went on. This is what brought on the discussion of the dinosaurs. Or rather, the not-dinosaurs.

Crowley had not been there when they were created. The Fallen had been cast out of Heaven long before the first idea of ‘life’ had been subjected to trial. That was not to say Crowley hadn’t created anything of his own, quite the opposite, in fact. He had been the reason for the night sky and its beauty. He had created the stars, planets and their moons, and even entire constellations. Alas, beating hearts were not one of them.

Instead, he had stumbled onto an online topic of ‘Change My View: Dinosaurs Were Faked’. He’d brought it before Aziraphale as they were lounging beside each other in his suddenly closed bookshop, asking him to confirm or deny this theory. Surprisingly, the angel had been wary of answering the question, choosing to dance around the answer instead.

‘We do not like to talk about it’, he had huffed, in an attempt to divert the conversation in a different direction. 

Crowley had given him a suspicious look, leaning forward in his seat as to egg him on.

‘Really, dear, it is a rather.. sensitive subject.’ He once again tried to brush off the subject, this time a more urging tone to his voice.

He’d dropped it this time, knowing it wouldn’t be the last he would hear of this.

The next time, the radio was turned on and a reporter was going over recent events in the news. They had called upon an expert who had started explaining something about a new discovery in some Eastern European country. It was the first time he’d ever seen the angel roll his eyes.

He had done a double take at him, lowering his sunglasses so he could peer over the rims. ‘Did the fossils do something to offend you, somehow?’

Aziraphale had shifted his glance over to the demon, giving him a very unimpressed stare from where he’d been sipping from his tea. ‘I suppose you could take it that way.’

The demon hadn’t known how to respond to that, instead preferring to lift his eyebrows and lowering his sunglasses even more down his nose.

‘It’s not- er, I mean, there’s no easy way to explain it.’

‘Take your time, angel, I’ve got all day’, he’d responded, eventually leaning back in the chair he’d picked out for the afternoon. God knew he wouldn’t be moving anytime soon.

The angel had looked like he was struggling with words. He knew Gabriel had forbidden them from speaking another word about it, but it wasn’t like they weren’t going to damn him to Hell and back for what he’d already done by now. A couple of expressions ranging from distraught to miffed to thoughtful had Crowley holding back an amused smile.

‘Well, it was never our intention to go about it this way. If only we’d- er, no, if only they’d done a better job, this wouldn’t have to be necessary at all.’ He’d made an attempt at explaining, only failing horrendously.

Crowley had made a move from his seat to reach over to the angel, wanting to place a hand on his arm in support before the couple had been rudely interrupted by the phone. The angel had gotten up out of the chair and had shuffled over to the ancient rotary dial phone in the corner of the room. 

‘Hello, this is Az-‘ he had started before quieting down immediately. A stumped expression had formed on his face, his eyebrows slowly turning upwards in surprise. He had nodded once, before realising the recipient could not see him and letting out a small but chipper ‘of course’.

Aziraphale had twisted his upper body around to face the demon, his eyes softening as the speaker went on, to indicate it wasn’t serious. ‘We’d love to’, he’d answered finally, making his goodbyes before he had put the phone back in its place.

‘We should get going, dear. Madame Tracy has invited us over for a cup of tea. She sounded rather insistent we come as soon as possible, Crowley’, he’d added at the end in an attempt to soothe the hesitant demon who’d already started to fuss about having to leave his comfortable armchair. In the end, Aziraphale had managed to wrangle him up, put on their coats and be out the door before Crowley could mutter a soft wahoo.

The other time Crowley brought up the subject had been a lazy Sunday morning, one like many others. Crowley had just passed the time watching Aziraphale savour a chocolate croissant as if the world would end all over again that day. He’d fished out a newspaper from the mat behind the front door, because who didn’t enjoy figuring out what those crazy humans had been up to while the others were asleep?

His eyes flew over the first page and the next until they landed on an advertisement somewhere along the third. His face contorted into a certain, just mildly amused expression before landing his gaze on the now-reading angel in the chair beside him.

‘There’s a new exhibit at the Natural History Museum. Don’t you think we should go take a look, hm?’ he’d off-handedly mentioned, as if it were him noting the weatherman was expecting clouds with a chance of a light drizzle up north of London.

The angel nodded, muttering something along the lines of ‘Whatever you’d like, dear,’ making the demon shift excitedly in place, while crossing a delicate leg over the other.

It turned out, however, not to be something Aziraphale had been expecting. Of course, it was the Natural History Museum, and it was filled with skeletons - or at least molds of skeletons - of creatures that had gone extinct many centuries ago. Truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure what Crowley had meant when he’d mentioned it in the first place, or when he’d given him a rather suspicious look on the bus after prodding him about it once more.

Meanwhile, as Aziraphale was going over all of his past memories to see when exactly he’d done something to deserve this, they found themselves standing in front of a large space filled to the brim with ‘The Smallest Avians Of The Jurassic Ages’. Crowley stood beside him, shifting from foot to foot while hesitantly placing his hand in the small of his angel’s back.

‘Aziraphale~’ he dragged out in something that suspiciously sounded like a pleading voice. ‘You’ll love it in here, I’m sure of it.’

If angels had some sort of power that instantly pulverised the poor fellow they’d laid eyes on with one look, Crowley would have been a small pile of ash by now.

Pushing Aziraphale softly along with him into the space, they started their wandering along the signs which portrayed pictures of earlier reconstructions of some winged creatures. When they slowed to a halt in front of a skull that was roughly the size of a clenched fist, Crowley fiddled with his sunglasses on his nose.

‘Poor little bugger. Doesn’t seem like this one had a good time when he was alive’, he noted, referring to the teeth marks on either side of the skull. According to the plaque beside the display, it had made for a nice afternoon snack, presumably by a ‘juvenile Allosaurus’. 

‘D’you have a hand in sculpting some of these?’, he inquired after a moment of silence, tilting his head curiously at him. 

‘As a matter of fact, I did’, Aziraphale replied, keeping his voice cool and collected. ‘Not all of them, I simply helped out with the smaller ones. The others were a bit too engrossed in the larger creatures, I’m afraid.’

‘That why the Tyrannosaurus has got those tiny little hands, eh? What’d they even do with ‘em?’ He questioned, more to himself than his partner.

‘I tried to get a little creative, you see’, Aziraphale added, moving sideways to the portrait of what looked like a larger than your usual bird, accompanied by claws and a mean beak. ‘Added some feathers here and there. Not that they’ve got them all figured out down here yet, though.’

‘Mm, yes. They give you much trouble over it, perhaps?’ Crowley turned himself towards Aziraphale completely, his expression turning into something more serious. 

The angel in question seemed to freeze, not even twisting his head around to meet the gaze of his companion. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Well, it just seems like a bit of a difficult thing to talk about for you. I was wondering what was behind it, is all.’ He shrugged the question off easily, not losing the serious undertone his voice had.

‘They didn’t bully me because of it, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s simply.. it was a mistake.’

‘How could creating life be a mistake? You made part of it, after all.’ He sounded more confused than persistent now.

‘Things didn’t turn out to be the way they were supposed to be. She Herself decided it just wouldn’t do.’ He remained stoic, clasping his hand behind his back before taking in a small breath.

‘She sent the asteroid. To start over, in Her words.’

There was a pregnant silence that fell over the both of them, neither knowing what to say. A particular look took over Aziraphale’s face, drawing Crowley’s attention. 

‘I thought it wasn’t-‘, He started, his voice dying out in a matter of seconds.  
He understood that it wasn’t easy seeing your creations be deemed ‘not good enough’ and having to witness it being thrown away as if it were nothing.

‘I just wish I didn’t have to see it.’ Aziraphale muttered, barely audible over his breath.

Crowley stepped over to his side, placing a soft hand on his shoulder. The angel finally turned his head toward the demon, a soft look on his face. He remembered all the times Crowley had touched him in this way, each moment fleetingly passing by as he realised the love he held for him. It made him want to be at home, encased by the demon’s arms for the rest of eternity. He was brought back to earth when Crowley squeezed him softly, meeting his gaze adoringly.

Aziraphale’s mind returned to the creatures he’d brought into existence, and their eventual demise. That had been all the more reason for his protectiveness of the humans and their lives here on Earth. At the very least he had been able to preserve some of his creations in museums such as these. He hadn’t been alone in this, as some humans had gained a passion for the history of the Earth. He had been struck by how dedicated some humans were to digging up the past. They showed the ancient old creatures just as much love as they would have if they were alive today. Later, when the angels were presented with the task of sculpting new animals to follow the previous generations, Aziraphale had chosen to preserve some of the distinguishing features he’d added to his earlier creatures.

After the disaster had occurred, he had been filled with the feeling of grief. It had left him with a gaping hole he could not explain. It was not the first time he had felt like that. In an attempt to battle this, Aziraphale had taken to putting his efforts into plants. It had been another task assigned to him from the Beginning; to colour the Earth with the most luscious and blooming organisms he could think of. He’d found himself rather skillful at this new activity.

‘There was this place right on the other side of the street I saw. I could treat you to lunch, if you’d like?’ It didn’t sound a mere suggestion so much as a soft prod to get them both going again.

‘That’d be nice, dear.’ Aziraphale responded softly, moving from where he stood frozen on the spot and visibly relaxing. 

A soft smile played on his lips as he took in the way Crowley was gazing at him caringly.

The demon offered him his hand as he stepped back to give Aziraphale some more space, his companion placing his own in the others. They meandered back towards the opening from which they had entered the room.

That lunch had turned into a prolonged walk back home afterwards. Aziraphale had shown Crowley one of his many created species after pulling out a book on paleontology from what looked like a large pile of encyclopedias that needed sorting. They sat there for the remainder of the afternoon, basking in each others company as they lied stretched out over a plump couch, the angel occasionally pointing at something on a page. Crowley honestly couldn’t think of a better way to spend his afternoons. After all, what wasn’t there to love about sharing some dinosaur-filled quality time with the most precious being alive?

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I’ve done fic writing for a fandom. I wrote this from a brain fart and threw it out here in case anyone else would like to look at it. Feel free to let me know what you think!


End file.
